For most people, Zhao Ting is just the daughter of Song Dandan's current husband and the Step Daughter of Aunt Baiyun.
However, this female director of Chinese descent who is not yet in her forties won the Venice Golden Lion Award for her third feature film "Nomadland". When the good news came, it was about 3 hours before the film was broadcast on the online platform of TIFF 2020.
As a Northeastern, as a Northeastern who lives in North America, and as a Northeastern who lives in North America and has close contact with RV Vanlife, "Nomadland" has moved me threefold.
The first floor is derived from the last sigh of the old industrial zone. At the moment the building collapsed, Nevada and the three provinces of the East were in sympathy. The town named "Empire" faced the loss of the industrial empire and was laid off collectively. Group unemployment, individual disqualification, how does Mai Sao think of home.
On the second level, as a friend said after watching, the director did not play the "Asian" card. This means that Zhao Ting is a fair and upright Fair Play. With mature director skills and audio-visual language, she got this golden lion. Among Asian creators who rely on the North American film and television industry system, this is already rare. Wang Ziyi's "Farewell" did not do it, nor did Wang Ying's "Coming Home Again", not to mention "Crazy Rich Asians". You say "Mulan"? Please leave consciously.
The third layer is my biggest surprise in the movie. In order to ensure that the ears and eyes are new, I did not do any background information research. After the RV scene appeared, I almost jumped up from the sofa. Living in a RV is the use of narrow space and the embarrassment of living conditions in exchange for the freedom to get close to the wonders of nature and live in the heart of the world. I am very kind and familiar with this. Because I watched a lot of videos of RV Vanlife bloggers on YouTube last year, my yearning for this kind of life has also been put into practice to a very shallow level.
However, those Vanlife YouTubers, and some of their friends who have tried this way of life, are by no means the same as the Nomad nomads in "Nomadland". It can be said that buying RVs and refitting Camper Van is a middle-class consumer taste for most people. It is a leisure means to get rid of the hustle and bustle of the city on long weekends. It is an alternative to long-distance travel boats and cars. It is to enjoy the fun and sense of accomplishment of DIY modification. . This is of course very beautiful, which is why it deeply attracted me.
But these Nomads in the film are truly "Houseless". Settling down in the car is not a choice, but helplessness. In order to rationalize their behavior, Christmas Bob gave a series of rhetoric to criticize capitalist exploitation. This group of friends on the road depend on each other, but friendship cannot support the family. Family divergence and love spread. No one understands and does not need others to understand. Mai's old Van is her home, but she can only be accommodated here.
The film is certainly not without flaws. For example, some "deliberately made" soundtracks, some Steadicam shots are too smooth and slightly abrupt, and some craftsmanship in the play. The flaws are not concealed, Zhao Ting’s sophisticated director skills, documentary lens language, patchy editing rhythm, dumb black humor, Mai Sao’s impeccable performance, a large number of natural non-professional actors, the magnificent scenery of the Midwestern United States...
This is the best independent film of 2020. This is the best movie of 2020.
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